Gen 28:13-15 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. (14) Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (15) Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

You would probably think that because Jacob stole by deceit Esau’s blessing that the Lord would be angry with him and curse him. You would be wrong. For as we said yesterday, that blessing the Lord had already promised to Jacob. Now the Lord confirms the blessing with which Isaac blessed him. It is the same blessing the Lord had promised to his grandfather Abraham.

Now it would be 450 years or so until the Lord fulfilled his promise concerning the land upon which Jacob was lying. His family would go to Egypt, grow very numerous and eventually be delivered by the Lord and conquer the promised land. The Lord also makes a very great promise to Jacob which will sustain him the years to come, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Now the Lord was with Jacob in all his dealings as we shall see. He blessed him with two wives, two concubines and thirteen children not to mention servants. His physical descendants are on every continent upon which the children of men live. But Jacob also has spiritual descendents on every continent as well. These are the true Israel, those who trust in the promises of the Lord. These are the Christians to whom the same Lord who spoke to Jacob spoke to his twelve disciples and speaks to us, Mat 28:20 “…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The Lord Jesus Christ, who is Israel, God’s Son, joins to himself in baptism all who will believe in him. The promise to Jacob is the promise to all his disciples and we are all Abraham’s and Israel’s children. We have the promise of multiplying. We have the promise of his continual presence among us. We have the promise of a new heavens and a new earth where we shall dwell always with our God and Lord. In Jesus and those who trust in him are all the nations of the earth blessed. Never doubt it.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for blessing the earth with the children of Jacob and most especially with his offspring Jesus Christ through whom all nations are blessed. We thank you for making us your children by adopting us through baptism. Help us always to keep your promises before us knowing you are Lord who keeps his promises so we may always have the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ among us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 27:28-29 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. (29) Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

Reading this account and remembering all the Sunday School lessons you have probably encountered, you might think that Rebecca and Jacob were being deceitful. Well in a sense they were. They were certainly trying to deceive Isaac into giving Jacob the blessing of Isaac. Receiving a blessing was a big thing. Isaac, like his father Abraham, were prophets of the Lord. Their blessing came with it the power to come into existence. What they blessed would come to pass. Isaac seeing his time has come had to decided to bless Esau who was the oldest of the two twins and the son whom he loved.

But Isaac was acting contrary to the will of God revealed to Rebecca. It is recorded here: Gen 25:23 And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” It was the Lord’s choice that the blessing, the covenant He made with Abraham and given to Isaac to pass on to Jacob and not Esau. It was Isaac who was acting deceitfully. Rebecca and Jacob are acting in accordance with the prophetic Word of God.

Jacob was God’s choice. God does seem at times to choose the least expected one to be the one through whom he will bring about his action and blessing. Abraham was an old man already when God called him. Jacob is the younger of the two twins. Judah isn’t the oldest son but God chooses his tribe to be the line of the messiah. David was the youngest son whom the Lord chooses to make king of Israel. And Jesus is born of the poorest descendents of David to become the savior of the world.

And what about you? 1Co 1:27-29 “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; (28) God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, (29) so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” We should not think the Lord chose us to have faith in Christ because we are such stellar examples of humanity. Yet that it may be by grace and not by merit we enter the kingdom of heaven, the Lord chose you to be one of his saints in glory. He chose you to receive the Holy Spirit, have faith and become a child of Abraham. How do you know he chose you? He put his name on you in baptism.

Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for your choice that we might have faith and eternal life in your Son Jesus. Ever keep us in this faith unto life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 24:63-67 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. (64) And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel (65) and said to the servant, “Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. (66) And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. (67) Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

We might note the character of Isaac here. What is he doing? He’s meditating in the evening. We should all take some time out during the day to spend time pondering and praying God’s Word. Isaac is a man devoted to the Lord who has blessed his father and now is blessing him.

We note Rebekah. What is her character? What is she displaying? Modesty. Something not so clearly demonstrated by today’s Christian women. Modesty just isn’t for minutes before a man says, “I do.” It ought to be the whole of the relationship before the wedding.

What a beautiful and simple marriage ceremony. The servant brought the woman to the man, the man takes the woman into his mother’s tent and whala! They’re married. No drama.

Finally we see the most important thing. Isaac loved Rebekah! No, it wasn’t a euphemism. He gave his life for her. She became a helpmeet to him. This is what marriage is supposed to be about, the husband loving the wife as Christ Jesus loved the Church. The wife being there for the husband to assist him as the Church does the work of Christ here on earth.

St. Paul describes it nicely here: Eph 5:22-27 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (24) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (25) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (26) that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, (27) so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Lord Jesus Christ, may those who you have called into the holy vocation of marriage show the love and respect for one another as You and Your Church are reality of this institution. Amen.

Gen 24:2-5 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, (3) that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, (4) but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” …6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there.

Why doesn’t Abraham want his servant to take a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites? Is Abraham racist, xenophobic? Not exactly. The Canaanites were of the son of Canaan whom Noah cursed. On top of that they worshipped other gods who are not gods. This often leads to the other spouse being led away from the true worship of the Lord. The Canaanites would have no part in the land that God was given to Abraham and his descendents. Indeed because of their sins, the Lord would one day use the descendants of the Abraham, the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites and the people who lived there who worshipped other gods.

Abraham would prefer that Isaac get a wife from his own people which is why he sends his servant there. But we see that he wasn’t completely opposed to a wife from somewhere else, just not from Canaan.

But there was something else. He did not want Isaac to return to his family homeland. Why was that? Because the Lord God had promised him the land where he was. If Isaac would have returned and stayed in Haran, that would be tantamount to rejecting the Lord’s covenant with him.

What shall we say to this then as Christians? Perhaps one, we should not be unequally yoked to unbelievers. Marriage is a heavy yoke. If you are a Christian then if you are not married yet, do not marry an unbeliever. If you are already married pray for the conversion of your spouse and live a life worthy of a Christian. Secondly, do not return or look back at you former life with longing. If you have always been a Christian, don’t look to the lives of unbelievers as something desirable. For that would be turning back on the promises the Lord has made to you, a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness reigns.

If you are not currently a believer, hear this, the Lord Jesus Christ has been given as a covenant the Lord God has made with you. On account of Christ’s work the Lord no longer holds your trespasses against you. Be repentant and be baptized into the household of God, even as Abraham’s servants were circumcised and you will have an inheritance as one of the people of God.

Heavenly Father, you call us to leave this world and to join ourselves with your Son Jesus Christ to gain your kingdom. Grant us such faith that we may not look back at our old lives but live joyfully in the promise of everlasting life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 21:1-6 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. (2) And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. (3) Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. (4) And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. (5) Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. (6) And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”

One promise down, more to come. One thing we can say about our Lord and God is he is a God of promises. Not only does the Lord make promises, he fulfills his promises. In today’s lesson we are to learn that. The Lord made a promise twenty-five years ago to Abraham. He would have an heir with his wife Sarah. Now that promise is fulfilled. We should think about that as we look into the promises of God. Sometimes they are long in coming. Indeed, God had made another promise to Abraham. His descendents would inherit the land of the Canaanites.

But first Isaac was born, then Israel, then Israel’s sons. Israel would have to spend another 500 years in Egypt growing into a multitude (another one of God’s promises) before he brought them back to take the land.

Another 1500 years would pass until another of God’s promises would come to pass. The seed through whom all nations of the world would be blessed. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. In Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord God became man. Through his suffering and death peace was made between God and man. Salvation was won for all people of all places and times.

The Lord has made you a promise. If you would believe, trust in him, Jesus, that he has indeed won salvation for you, you would have eternal life. On the last day when he returns (another promise) you would be raised from the dead to eternal life. Now, it has been almost 2000 years since the Lord made that promise and it may be another 2000 before he returns. But Jesus is gathering more children for Abraham from every nation, language and tongue. From our perspective it may seem like a long time. Yet we know from past experience and evidence from Scripture, the Lord keeps his promises. You can trust him to keep this promise too.

Heavenly Father, while we may grow impatient in waiting for you to deliver on your promises, may the fulfillment of your promises past increase our faith and our patience that we may rejoice in all the family you are gathering to Abraham in your Son Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 21:17-20 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. (18) Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” (19) Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. (20) And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.

While the promised seed is to come from Isaac, God’s promise rest on all of Abraham’s children. Ishmael is a child of Abraham also. Though the child of the slave woman would have no part in Isaac’s inheritance, he will become a great nation because of Abraham. We will see in few chapters after Abraham’s death that Ishmael has 12 children who are 12 princes. They inhabit the area opposite of Egypt to Assyria.

So God takes the boy and his mother and provides for him.

What can we learn from this? God keeps his promises. What promises has God made to you? Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Mat 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (9) Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? (10) Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? (11) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Act 2:38-39 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (39) For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Rom 4:22-25 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” (23) But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, (24) but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, (25) who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Rom 9:6-8 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, (7) and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” (8) This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Gal 3:26-29 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (27) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (29) And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

And of course there are many more which our Lord has kept and will keep.

O Lord our God, you have made and kept so many wonderful promises. Grant us faith to believe these promises until you have fulfilled them before our very eyes. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Gen 18:13-14 The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ (14) Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Last reading God said he makes the dead alive and calls that which is not into being. Well a woman at the age of ninety has gone through menopause as our text today testifies to. She isn’t having any babies. Barren by age is Sarah. But God promises a child next year. So, well who can blame her, she laughs at the promise. But God’s promises are nothing to be laughed at.
Is anything too hard, too wonderful for the Lord? Another practically couple barren women once asked how they would become pregnant. One was a virgin. Her older cousin Elizabeth was well just old. But the angel Gabriel pronounced to Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God.” Both of them had children, one was John the Baptist the other was Jesus. Both were children of promise and were children of the wonderful action of the Lord through the promise made Abraham and Sarah in Genesis eighteen, Isaac.

The Lord can do the impossible and does marvelous things. One of the marvelous, impossible things he does is bring us from being dead in trespasses and sins and giving us eternal life. He makes us children of God being born from above in the waters of baptism. Jesus said as much when asked by his disciples, “Who then can be saved”? Jesus replied, “With man this is impossible but with God, nothing is impossible.”

You cannot save yourselves. There is nothing in you, no power or strength or will that can bring about your salvation from the kingdom of darkness to God’s marvelous light. But the Lord through the promised seed of Abraham, our Lord Jesus Christ is God and Man. Jesus does the impossible. He wins eternal life for you. You were just as dead as Sarah’s womb, but through the promise of Jesus life, death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit makes you alive again.

Trust that he has done this for you. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who does the impossible. Nothing is too hard or marvelous for him.
Heavenly Father as you have promised a child to a barren couple and through that promise you brought for Isaac, may the promise of salvation make us born from above that we may possess eternal life even now. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, (2) that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

Gen 17:10-11 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. (11) You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Abraham and his wife Sarah were as good as dead at this age. Abraham has gotten a son through his wife’s made and he probably thought that was pretty good. But God called Abraham and his wife and made a covenant with them. The man and the woman are one. So God, once again reaffirms his covenant with Abraham and adds a sign.

Now our translation (ESV) ends verse 2 with blameless. Many translations take the Hebrew word here and translate it perfect, blameless or upright. But the word here carries with it the meaning of completeness. To be complete before God is walk before him in faith, i.e. trusting God’s promises. Such faith calls us to holy lives. But it is faith that completes a man.

The Lord God gives Abraham a sign to believe God’s promise of him being the father of many nations with kings coming from his loins. The Lord gives it to him and all male descendents so their faith may be kindled regularly throughout the day. Their wives shall see it regularly too so their trust in the Lord’s promise may be regularly kindled. That sign is circumcision. Every time Abraham’s descendents went to the bathroom throughout the day, they could remember the Lord’s promise to them and their faith could be rekindled.

Now the Lord has fulfilled that covenant in Jesus, we have new signs of the new covenant. We are baptized and whenever we clean ourselves or take a drink of water we can remember the Lord no longer counts our trespasses against us. We have the Lord’s Supper so every time we gather for his meal we can remember God has promised us everlasting life in a new heavens and a new earth with resurrected bodies. Every time we see a tree or intersecting lines we can remember on the tree, the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ has won salvation for us and the world.

Heavenly Father, you made promises to Abraham and gave him and his descendents a sign that they may be strengthened in their faith. You also have made promises to us and given us the sacraments as signs that give and strengthen our faith. May we look upon them and have our faith regularly kindled that we may walk before you blameless until the coming our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Gen 15:5-18 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (6) And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (7) And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” (8) But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” (9) He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” (10) And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. (11) And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (12) As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him…(17) When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. (18) On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,…

Wow how many times does God have to remind Abram of his promise? Does he ever get it? Yeah, you think you’re so good, but how often do you need to go to Church to hear God’s promises so you don’t sink down into despair or self-righteousness? The Lord repeated his promise to Abram and it was counted to him as righteousness. Right there then is the heart of the Gospel. God makes promises. Man believes those promises. God considers that as righteousness. That was the problem in the Garden. Man quit believing God’s promises and he fell into death and darkness. When we believe the promises we are righteous again. We note that is all Abram did to be declared righteous. He believed.

But his faith did not stop there. Even though he believed, Abram wanted a sign. God told him to prepare some animals, to cut them in half. The Lord was going to cut a covenant with Abram so he could have a sign to rely on when he doubted. And the Lord appeared as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch which passed between the pieces. So serious is God’s promise to Abram he makes this covenant. If I break this promise, may what happened to these creatures happen to me. The Lord kept his promise and Israel possessed the land.

Now the Lord wants to fulfill his promise to Abram on a greater scale. So he makes Abram’s seed, Jesus Christ to be the fulfillment of his covenant with Abram as the one whose seed blesses all nations. In Jesus, God makes a covenant. I will forgive them their sins and remember them no more and I will put my law on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. No animals this time. God himself in the flesh pours forth his blood. Jesus, the Lord, gives us a sign of the covenant. He gives us his body and blood with the bread and the wine so we may remember like Abraham God’s covenant with us. As we partake of Christ’s body and blood we can be certain God will keep this covenant with us.

Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for giving us this sign of the covenant with your true body and blood, crucified on the cross, shed in your passion and death, resurrected and ascended into heaven. May we with Abram be counted righteous for believing your word. Amen.

Gen 13:14-18 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, (15) for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. (16) I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. (17) Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” (18) So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

Heb 11:8-16 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (9) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. (11) By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (12) Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. (13) These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. (14) For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. (15) If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. (16) But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

We believe scripture interprets scripture. Hebrews interprets Genesis. What did Abram see? Was it a piece of real estate on the east of the Mediterranean or a heavenly city? Perhaps both. One was the earnest for the other. The Lord did give to Abram’s physical descendents that land, the real estate on in the Middle East. They are still in possession of it. They began to take possession of it when the Israelites crossed the Jordan. They had taken full possession of by the time of Solomon. Because of their sinfulness, the Israelites lost control of much of it and all of it at times, Abram’s other children still possessed that land. He had thirteen kids you know.

And while the Israelites were like dust of the earth, they are even greater now in Christ. For in Christ, all who have faith in Christ are children of Abraham. We’re in every country of the world practically representing every nation, tribe and tongue. And like Abraham we are looking to a city not made with human hands, the New Jerusalem. God has promised this to all who have faith in His Son, the seed of the Woman, the seed of Abram.

Lord Jesus Christ, give us such faith in you that like Abraham we may wait in patience to receive all that you have promised us. Amen.